Mapped: The US beaches where deadly, flesh-eating bacteria lurk in the water- is your vacation spot safe? READ MORE: Man contracts flesh-eating bacteria on South Carolina beach By Cassidy Morrison Senior Health Reporter For Dailymail.Com Published: 13:14 BST, 8 June 2024 | Updated: 13:19 BST, 8 June 2024 e-mail 1 View comments Nervous beach-goers may be on red alert for signs of jellyfish and sharks lurking in US waters this summer. But doctors and marine biologists say people should be just as concerned about a threat they can’t see .
Dangerous bacteria, some of which eat the body from the inside out, lurk in the sand, ocean water, rivers, and lakes, latching on to open cuts or accidentally being swallowed. Effects of swallowing these bugs in sea or lake water can range in severity from nausea and diarrhea — to lethal sepsis , coma, limb amputation and, in worst cases, death. And while many types used to be contained to Southeastern states and along the Gulf of Mexico , in recent years they've been spreading to waters all over the country.
Dangerous bacteria that can eat away at flesh can be found at beaches and vacations nationwide. Several examples of places where they have been detected are shown above For instance, the deadly flesh-eating vibrio vulnificus bacteria has, over the past year, been detected at beaches up and down the Eastern seaboard; off the coast of Long Island, in Connecticut , at beaches and shellfish restaurants in Florida , and more. This is becaus.
